Companies that are not prepared to hold for 10 years don't buy

$TENCENT (00700.HK)$ Berkshire Hathaway bought a large stake in GICO in late 1976, then added a small stake, gradually increasing its stake to 50% by 1995. It's complicated to calculate the cost of each investment over the decades, but one thing stands out when Berkshire Hathaway bought the other half of the company for $2.3 billion in 1995. Benjamin Graham bought exactly half of the company in 1948 for $720,000. 'It's a lot of money,' Mr. Buffett admits, 'but seeing the company's competitive advantage remain the same for 50 years gives him the satisfaction of owning 100% of a company with so much growth potential.'